Deputy Executive Director at Property Council of Australia, William Power stated that the Property Council was strong in its leadership to call for a national framework for the consistent implementation of the recommendations from the Shergold Weir Building Confidence report.

"The commitment from the Building Minister's Forum to establish an implementation team within the Australian Building Codes Board tasked with developing and reporting on this national framework was welcomed," Mr Power said, adding, "now there is more work to do."

0.jpeg

Deputy Executive Director, William Power. Source: Property Council of Australia. 

Mr Power also said that in NSW, the Building Stronger Foundations discussion paper has outlined additional reforms for our state, and we have been supportive of any reforms that increase confidence and transparency in the building and construction industry.

"We believe a central aspect to this approach needs to be appointing a building commissioner, with the support of a building commission, with both regulatory and enforcement functions – a role with teeth. We welcomed the appointment of David Chandler OAM as NSW Building Commissioner and look forward to working with him on key reforms," he said. 

Related reading: Building Ministers adopt Shergold Weir building standards.

Additionally, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the appointment of Mr Chandler was part of the NSW Government’s commitment to implementing the biggest overhaul to building laws in the State’s history.

“David has more than 40 years’ industry experience, which will be invaluable as we move to restore confidence in the building and construction industry,” Ms Berejiklian said.

The Building Commissioner will be responsible for the investigation and disciplinary action for misconduct in the building industry while overseeing the end to end licensing and auditing across the building industry.

The Commissioner will also drive legislative reforms of the building industry, including consultation with industry.

This will include legislation to be introduced later this year requiring building practitioners to be registered, a new duty of care to make it easier for homeowners to seek compensation against negligent building practitioners, and ensuring all buildings are designed and constructed to plans that comply with the Building Code of Australia.

Mr Chandler has welcomed the opportunity to work with the Government to strengthen the building and construction industry.

“Recent events have reduced community confidence in how buildings are designed and constructed and how they perform, but I welcome the leadership and commitment being shown by the Government to implement change that will strengthen the construction industry foundations in NSW,” Mr Chandler said.

Mr Chandler will start in the position on 14 August 2019.

Click here to read the full Shergold-Weir Report. 

Mr Power also added that in recent weeks, council’s have been releasing their Local Strategic Planning Statements– documents that seek to embed the vision of the Greater Sydney Commission’s plans into the outlook of local government. 

"Our view is that these documents should place local governments in the best possible position to leverage local growth, supply enough housing for growing communities, encourage investment, and instill effective governance structures - and we have been assessing the statements according to these metrics," he said. 

"A part of this approach is holding member briefings on a collection of the released statements so that local government can brief our members on their outlook – I’d encourage you to attend."

Similar to this:

Victorian Government vows to combat high-risk cladding with $600 million grants package

Cities policy should be a priority for next government, says Property Council of Australia

Construction industry urges governments to take action on Building Certifier Insurance